This year we surpassed 100 grants given out to support a wide variety of bird-related research and conservation projects! A total of 103 grants totaling $90,564 have been awarded since the program’s inception, through this year.
One of IOS’s objectives is “To promote scientific research and education in order to improve knowledge and awareness of birds in Illinois”. The IOS Grants Program was initiated several years ago to support this objective with funding.
The 2018 IOS Grants Program received nine requests for funding, representing a notably diverse set of study goals. The IOS review team evaluated each proposal, and determined that all were suitable for funding within the scope of that key objective described above. In addition to money provided directly by IOS, donations by four organizations and many individuals made it possible for all of the 2018 grant requests to be fully funded.
Sponsor Organizations:
Chicago Ornithological Society
DuPage Birding Club
Lake-Cook Audubon
Kane County Audubon
Individual Sponsors:
Paula Aschim
Denis Bohm
Margie and Alan Busic
Donnie Dann
Sonia Da Silva
Daniel Daubach
Glenna Eaves
Joyce Gettleman
Tamima Itani
Janice Knight
Katy Krigbaum
Rosemary McLeod
Sue Roellig
Marsha Steffen
Thanks to you all! Without the generosity of these organizations and IOS members and friends in the bird conservation community, IOS would not be able to support these projects. The support exemplified by this funding sends an important message to these students and researchers: We believe in your work, and we care about the future of our state’s bird life!
Thanks to John Andrews and Scott Meister for reviewing and evaluating all the requests.
Congratulations to the grant recipients! Watch for their project articles in future issues of Meadowlark and watch for short summaries on the IOS website. Here’s a synopsis of the 2018 grants. Where noted, individuals and organizations targeted those grants for their donations.
| Recipient | Affiliation | Project | Fully Sponsored by |
| Luke Malanchuk | University of Illinois | Abundance and Distribution of Shorebirds in the Illinois River Valley, and Stopover Ecology of Pectoral Sandpipers (Calidris melanotos) in East-Central Illinois. | Chicago Ornithological Society |
| Benton Hendrickson | Southern Illinois University | Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Selection of Breeding Mississippi (Ictinia mississippiensis) in Southern Illinois | Dupage Birding Club |
| Abigail Danner | Monmouth College | Do Northern Cardinals and American Goldfinches Use Non-Visual Cues to Determine the Carotenoid Content of a Potential Food Source? | Individual Sponsors and IOS |
| Daniel Goldberg | Illinois State University | Acoustic and Behavioral Monitoring of Threatened and Declining Rails in Illinois through Call-Playback Surveys and Autonomous Recorders | Dupage Birding Club |
| Krti Tallam | University of Illinois | Impacts of Human Disturbance on American Robin Incubation | Individual Sponsors and IOS |
| Todd Jones | University of Illinois | Do pre- to post-fledging carryover effects drive patterns of differential post-fledging survival in altricial songbirds? | Individual Sponsors and IOS |
| Kayce Miller | DePaul University | Problem-solving performance of songbirds in urban and rural environments | Lake-Cook Audubon |
| Alex Glass | Southern Illinois University | Responses in grassland bird productivity to habitat structure, management actions, and grassland community dynamics | Individual Sponsors and IOS |
| Shelby Lawson | University of Illinois | Exploring the Perceptual and Neural Basis of Functional Reference Signaling in Yellow Warblers | Individual Sponsors and IOS |
A few 2018 research highlights!
